Survival Knife

July 28th, 2010, 08:14 PM

The Gerber LMF II Survival/Infantry Knife, is by far, the best knife I've ever owned. It was made and tailored for the soldier, and was field-tested with the troops. The knife comes with a sheath that has straps to secure it to your calf or thigh, along with a sharpener that's built into the sheath. It's also MOLLE compatible so you can strap it to your vest or ruck. It comes with a safety knife for cutting seatbelts/straps for a plane-crash/parachuting scenario.
The knife itself has a butt that is designed for punching through glass and hammering without the shock of impact and electricity running up through the blade. The handle had a good grip to it and is comfortable to hold. The blade has some weight to it and is serrated as well as blacked-out to eliminate glare.
I honestly think that if you're looking for an all around knife that can pretty much do anything you ask of it, this is a great tool to look into. Here's the official site:

Comment

I like the one with the bubble compass on the butt, and you unscrew it and you have fishing line and water proof matches, and it has leather strings so you can tie it to your thigh.

MY OPINION:
You dont need a Go Go Gadget Knife.

It has a Butt that can break glass, well pretty sure there is a Rock somewhere around. If its a vehicle flipped and you need to get out, there is plenty of loose items, that probably hit you in the head when you rolled that will work. Also in most car accident, the window is already broken. Dont buy something off gadgets, buy something on a reason you will use it.

It has insulation so you wont get electricuted. Thats awesome, but if you come into this situation, I dont think a Survival knife is your biggest problem, you have bigger things at hand. Plus 110 wont **** you if your in a building.

You can use MOLLE, this is something I actually teach to my students. Why do you want all that junk on your kit? You know you have to move with all that stuff on, and with a weapon and kit, and helmet getting out of a 1151 in a hurry, you need to move. When it comes to kit, you want to synch it down and streamline it. Keep it simple, Ammo Pouches (3 double pouches), a IFAC (in the front, NOT the back) and 2 turniquetes. You might want to put maybe about 15' of tubular nylon on the back in bands incase of anything, you can always use tubular nylon, and a D-link or two. Remember to think practical, we dont really do trench warfare anymore.

Get something practical, maybe assisted opening, and have clip or a lanyard on it. You will use your knife more as a tool than anything. Its always good to buy gear, just make sure you are not wasting money on things you dont need. Extra weight and size are a major factor on mission prep, and always PCI before you go.

Comment

Phantom--I see where you're coming from and you make a lot of sense. If someone was getting a knife to use in the field, then something small and light-weight and most of all compact would be the best bet. Personally, I go hunting and camping a lot so those were the main reasons why I got this knife, all of the extra features are just a plus. In my opinion, a good multi-tool and a good sized blade that can cut well are the best things to carry in terms of tools.

Comment

It has insulation so you wont get electricuted. Thats awesome, but if you come into this situation, I dont think a Survival knife is your biggest problem, you have bigger things at hand. Plus 110 wont **** you if your in a building.

Hah, I knew I had heard of this knife before.. apparently the electrical thing is a selling point because of what some soldier had to do. This is from the wiki article:

In addition to the knives issued to Army aviation units, the ASEK is available for purchase by individual soldiers in other branches. In October 2005, a platoon of the 3rd Infantry Division on an IED patrol in Iraq was cut off by insurgents and took shelter in a building to wait for backup. The platoon was nearly discovered when the insurgents turned on the lights, but SFC Dillard Johnson, carrying a Gerber LMF II ASEK, was able to cut through a 220 volt electrical line and douse the lights, allowing the platoon to use their night vision advantage to neutralize the threats and wait for evacuation. While SFC Johnson realized the risk inherent in cutting through live electrical wires, he later said "I wasn’t exactly thrilled about having to cut hot lines, but in battle, you do what you have to do."

They even have a picture of the knife with some blade damage.

Honestly tho, I'm not sure I fully understand the need for a fixed blade knife yet. In most situations I pop out a kershaw or gerber utility knife. But I haven't been deployed yet so perhaps they fixed blades are more useful than I know?